Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Staples Inc. and RadioShack Corp.
have removed Amazon.com Inc. lockers from their stores about a
year after starting the program as competition stiffens with the
online retailer.

The chains began testing a system last year in which Amazon
shoppers could have a Web order delivered to a store and then
pick it up for no extra cost. This allowed customers, especially
urban apartment dwellers, to avoid being home to receive a
package or risking a delivery being stolen because it had to be
dropped off on a doorstep or in a lobby.

The decision to enter a partnership that made life easier
for Amazon’s customers came at a time when the online retailing
giant was already a major competitor to both chains.

“That was a little bit odd, but what they were hoping for
was that when customers would come in to pick up stuff from the
locker, they would pick up additional items,” said Brian
Yarbrough, a retail analyst with Edward Jones & Co. in St.
Louis. If they pulled the lockers, that means they probably
“weren’t seeing the incremental sales out of the deal.”

Staples ended the test with Amazon after it “didn’t meet
the criteria we set up together,” Demos Parneros, president of
North American stores and online for Staples, said in an e-mail.
The company declined to comment further on why it ended the
partnership or how many lockers it had in place.

Didn’t Fit

RadioShack stopped the program because it didn’t fit with
its strategy, Merianne Roth, spokeswoman for the Fort Worth,
Texas-based retailer, said today in an e-mail. Chief Executive
Officer Joe Magnacca, who took charge in February, is cutting
items to reduce clutter in stores while improving displays to
boost sales of major brands such as Apple Inc.

Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for Amazon, didn’t respond to a
request for comment.

With Amazon and other online retailers undercutting
RadioShack on price and selection, sales at the electronics
chain have declined for the past six quarters, leading to a net
loss of more than $200 million in that period.

Amazon has also been taking sales from Framingham,
Massachusetts-based Staples as it sells more office and school
products. Revenue at the world’s largest office-supplies chain
has slid in seven of the past eight quarters. Staples also sells
Amazon’s Kindle line of tablets and e-readers.

Staples gained 1.1 percent to $15.12 at the close in New
York while RadioShack advanced 2 percent to $4.15. Amazon, based
in Seattle, rose 2.6 percent to $312.03. This year Staples has
increased 33 percent, RadioShack is up 96 percent and Amazon has
risen 24 percent compared with a gain of 21 percent for the
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

The fact that these chains were willing to help the
customers of a major competitor “tells you it’s difficult out
there and they are willing to try a lot of different things to
bring people in the door,” Yarbrough said.